Ok so there's no engine temperature gauge in our high performance cars, some will say well if the the engine overheats the idiot light will illuminate. I say I'd rather watch for trouble early as with a gauge one could see the needle heading toward hot before it gets too hot. Aluminum engines do bad things when they overheat.

Also you're never supposed to push a cold or even cool engine hard so how are we supposed to know when the car is at full operating temperature especially during colder months other than driving for 10 mins first? It would be acceptable if our cars had the BMW M type tach that lets you know when it's safe to drop the hammer but we have nothing at all.

 

Temperature guages are quickly going the way of the dinosaur. I'm sure we could have a lively discussion about the pros and cons of both guages and warning lights, but a number of manufacturers including Jaguar are protecting their engines without them.

It would however be interesting to hear if anyone has had a problem detected by either as cooling systems are now extremely reliable.

Bruce

 

Hi Bruce,

What other high performace cars have no temp gauges?

 

Many models from Mazda, Subaru and Volvo without guages will see far more demanding use than most (all?) Jags. But I will admit that sporty stuff tends to get the guages...whether they're better or worse, safer or less safe than warning lights.

Here's a thread that discusses the inaccuracies of Jaguar guages, and how they wouldn't even warn in the event of lossing all engine coolant from a burst hose. https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...e-gauge-62813/. Google search will locate others.

Jaguar guages, and those in sports cars I've beat on around the track, don't register increasing temps to give you the warning you say you want, and if/when they do start to indicate a problem there's no assurance you would see it quickly enough. What I'd prefer is an engine management system that protects the engine from damaging heat and doesn't rely on a driver's monitoring of a guage and quick response to it if it should suddenly start changing... perhaps the XKR has one! I'd also prefer an audible alarm more than a guage.

So I think the important question from those who are concerned would be to ask how the Jag's engine temp warning system actually works. Most here won't be concerned about not having one, or other guages used on some high performance cars, and hope and expect that the manufacturer has got this basic function covered.

Bruce

 

Good info and thaks for sharing. Next time Im at my dealership I will ask them how the idiot light works...hopefully its progressive, going from yellow to orange to red or some thing to that affect. I personally still would prefer the following ranked accordingly:

1) Oil Pressure
2) Coolant Temp (that works)
3) Oil Temp
4) Volts

Since most in not all of these function are obtainable via the OBD port there's no reason they could not have been incorporated at least in the trip comp

 

You're welcome. When you ask them might I suggest referring to it as a "warning light" Hopefully you'll get an answer from someone who actually knows, and of course please let us know what they say.

I would add intake air temp, exhaust gas temp and air/fuel ratio monitoring on your list somewhere so I could get more meaningful info related to the intercoolers ability to manage factory boost under high load and track conditions, and to facilitate higher boost and/or more aggressive tuning.

Bruce

 

Sounds good to me. I guess the botom line is we would like more info, and with all the sophisticated data already available via OBD it would be a very easy and inexpensive set of data for Jag to provide. I'd bet the new XE will have a coolant and maybe even an oil pressure gauge lol...